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The UK has the biggest funds industry in the world, proportionately, according to new analysis that picks out some interesting data-points about the business and economic significance of the country's money managers. With £4.1 trillion under management at the end of 2009, the UK's fund managers look after money that's equivalent to 273% of the country's gross domestic product. That is the biggest ratio in the world, ahead even of the US, whose money-management firms look after funds worth 252% of total economic output.

Other nations that punch above their weight in terms of funds managed include Switzerland, in third place, and the Netherlands, in fourth, both of which countries look after funds worth over twice as much as their economies.

The UK's pre-eminence in asset management is underlined by a new report from TheCityUK, the British financial-sector lobby group. Here we present a short summary of their findings - Europe's biggest funds industry, in numbers, as of the end of 2009.

Assets under management, by client:
- from institutional investors: £2.6 trillion
of which
- from insurance companies: £766bn (80% managed by in-house asset managers)
- from pension funds: £959bn
- from other institutions, such as charities, sovereign wealth funds etc: £865bn
- from retail investors: £717bn
- from private clients: £402bn
- in alternative funds, including hedge funds, property and private equity: £400bn
(figures in this last category have been adjusted to avoid double-counting with other categories)